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Eclipse Plans

Started by trdsf, August 10, 2017, 12:50:05 PM

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SGOS

#15
Quote from: trdsf on August 11, 2017, 03:59:56 PM
Let me just take a moment to urge you to go ahead and go.  Opportunities like this don't come very often, and I would suggest it's better an annoyance in going than a regret for not -- the annoyance will fade, the regret won't.  We're getting 98% totality in 2024, and I'm already making plans to go somewhere where I have a better guarantee of clear skies and in the core of the path (it'll be nearly twice as long as this one).  I could take a city bus to totality in 2024, but that's not good enough.
I'm still making plans.  I've got a laptop with Streets and Trips with GPS.  Haven't used it for years, and I had to teach myself how to drive with it all over again.  I spent extra time hooking up blue tooth headphones so I could listen to the directions without taking my eyes off the road, and then I rerouted myself around the default route, avoiding interstates when close to major cities.  I actually took 25 miles off the trip total, too.  It will be slower driving on slower roads, but if I avoid an interstate crawl, I will come out ahead and less stressed.  I basically spent the day doing this, so I haven't thrown in the towel by any means.  I'd like to experience totality.  I've seen two other eclipses, but neither total.

I have onboard navigation in the car, but it doesn't lend itself as well to the big picture, and searching for go-arounds.  Also, I drew a long line of totality right on the Streets and Trips map that I'll use, so I can search for a good spot using the map and keeping myself in the center of totality.  I've also used the street views on Google Earth to search for good parking and open rural areas.

Hydra009

Quote from: trdsf on August 11, 2017, 03:59:56 PMLet me just take a moment to urge you to go ahead and go.  Opportunities like this don't come very often, and I would suggest it's better an annoyance in going than a regret for not -- the annoyance will fade, the regret won't.
It's true that it's rare, but imho, these sorts of events might be kinda overblown.  It'll be unusually dark for a while during the day.  Big whoop.  Unless it unleashes some powerful evil entity or makes some newborn baby the chosen one, it's a lot of hoopla with not much of a payoff.

And here's a video to (hopefully) back up my argument.  I'll be honest with you guys, I haven't watched it yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNH3akWXaV8

SGOS

Quote from: Hydra009 on August 11, 2017, 05:38:52 PM
Unless it unleashes some powerful evil entity or makes some newborn baby the chosen one,...
I like a man with high standards. :biggrin:

Hydra009

Quote from: SGOS on August 11, 2017, 05:53:32 PM
I like a man with high standards. :biggrin:
It takes at least one emerging dark lord to get me out of bed most days.

Baruch

Quote from: Hydra009 on August 11, 2017, 06:59:07 PM
It takes at least one emerging dark lord to get me out of bed most days.

I'm here.  So get your ass out of bed ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06X5HYynP5E

Since the 1960s are back, I thought this appropriate.  But if The Monkey's come back, then it is the Apocalypse.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

SGOS

The Flat Earthers are having a field day with the eclipse.  I only watched half of this video, because they do manage to pass their confusion on quite well.  I just waited until I thought I understood the mechanics of the eclipse, which in all truth was giving me problems.  It is a confusing set of relationships and fertile ground for those who want to screw with people's minds.  No doubt they will make some converts too, because some people really do like having their minds screwed with.  Even if you still can't figure out what's really going on during an eclipse, you can still go to a cocktail party and challenge people to explain what is hard enough to understand to begin with.

Anyway, here's a case that proves the Earth is flat, and the Lord God is Almighty.  If you don't want to watch this, don't worry.  I'll understand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3UHWcKdYXg

Cavebear

I EXPECT the skies will be overcast and I won't see much of anything.  A mere slight darkening and nothing more.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Gawdzilla Sama

Quote from: Cavebear on August 12, 2017, 05:31:17 AM
I EXPECT the skies will be overcast and I won't see much of anything.  A mere slight darkening and nothing more.
It will be NIGHT for a while if you're in the path of totality. YMMV
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

SGOS

Here, the weather pattern currently settling in is overcast skies with one day of sun for the next 8 days.  No one actually knows what the skies will be like 9 days from now, and it's not unusual for such long range forecasts to be wrong, but the current trend is not encouraging.  I would never willingly bet on the weather a week from now, but if I were forced at gun point to bet or die, I'd bet that the eclipse will be a flop at my house.

For those who want to know what the weather in their area will be like on the 21st of August you can go HERE.  In fact you can visit this web site to see what your local weather will be on this day a year from now.  So you can be confident that these people are experts in long range forecasting.  And for me their forecast calls for rain on the 21st. 

But the people at this site are very good at what they put their mind to.  I've heard they also offer another website that offers advice on personal relationships.  And on the 21st, I should be open to the possibility of a new friendship that could blossom into romance, which is actually quite encouraging.  But I don't know if this means that I should visit the Path of Totality to find this special person, and if I do, what part of the 3000 mile path do I need to go to?  Oh my!

chill98

Quote from: SGOS on August 11, 2017, 08:11:19 PM
The Flat Earthers are having a field day with the eclipse.  I only watched half of this video, because they do manage to pass their confusion on quite well.  I just waited until I thought I understood the mechanics of the eclipse, which in all truth was giving me problems.  It is a confusing set of relationships and fertile ground for those who want to screw with people's minds.

lol -  I had a good laugh watching this!  Gotta give 'em credit for the effort put into the vid.

So I got curious as to which stars will be visible.  Had to find lat lon here. GPS coords below map:

http://www.latlong.net/

Change the coords, date, time, what you want displayed here:

http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Yoursky

I have a place to stay on the north edge (about 6 miles inside) the total line.  Home location is maxing out at 80%; but I already experienced that back  in the 70s, so I want the full experience.  We are going down saturday so we have the option of moving location if the weather looks bad, but that will mean no place to stay and winging it. 


SGOS

For what it's worth, while studying various forecast sites, I've noticed that the moon phase for tonight is "Waning Gibbous."  Good Grief.

Cavebear

It won't matter.  It will be deeply overcast when it occurs here.  That's just how it works for me.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Gawdzilla Sama

Will the ISS be in position to get some footage?

And, in the spirit of umbras, I give you Rescue Party.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers


SGOS

Turns out the eclipse glasses I bought from Amazon are not certified safe ISO 12312-2.  Amazon advertised them as certified, but it turns out that many of them, perhaps most of the glasses sold by sub sellers do not carry the certification code, and Amazon is refunding the money and not requiring me or anyone else to return the glasses.

But most everything is sold out.  You can still order them and they come with guaranteed delivery sometime after Sept 20th.  Yes, that's Sept, as in September.  Some are promised in August, but not until after the eclipse, and glasses that had previously sold for $2.00 still available can now be going for as high as $30.00.

The information as of this afternoon about Amazon glasses, from Amazon itself, is still conflicting, and some of it makes no sense:  "Want it by next Friday? Choose Expedited Shipping for $xxx dollars."  Except that it states elsewhere that, it won't be in stock by then.  Amazon seems to have been caught short, and apparently hasn't had enough time to get their shit together and fix this thing.  Except they did email me and tell me not to use the glasses I bought.  You have to try and buy more from Amazon at horribly inflated prices on products that aren't available.

I still have questions about whether the glasses are safe to use, however, and I've read conflicting information in regards to that question also.  Not being certified only means they are not certified.  It appears with the overwhelming demand companies could manufacturer in time, but could not certify in time.  I guess there are mountains of government paperwork that have to b filed.

95% of the articles I've read, simply say, don't use the glasses because they aren't certified.  One article, which I believe was the Washington Post said, you still may be able to use them.  Put them on and if you can't see anything, except the sun itself, they are probably dark enough.  My glasses are like that, but every other article says you can't be sure if that's enough.

This information just came out from Amazon today, but I've been hearing rumors of fraudulent claims and uncertified glasses for the last week.  It's rather a big deal.  The potentially dangerous eclipse paraphernalia looms as important as the eclipse itself.  And the price gouging going on under the circumstances seems rather important also.  The fact that Amazon hasn't yet got their site up to date, and was still giving descriptions and ordering information that was incoherent even as late as this afternoon, seems like part of the story also.

And cheap certified glasses previously available have disappeared in the great corporate 2017 eclipse  money grab.  Yay, America!